Man spends 43 YEARS in a wheelchair after receiving the wrong diagnosis
A man who spent the past 43 years confined to a wheelchair has had to learn how to walk again after discovering he was misdiagnosed as a teenager.
Rufino Borrego was told he had incurable muscular dystrophy when he was 13 years old and has used a wheelchair to get around ever since.
However in 2010 a neurologist told Borrego, who is now in his sixties, that he in fact suffered from myasthenia - a different disease that weakens the muscles.
The rare disease can actually be treated simply by taking asthma medication and just a year after his new diagnosis, Borrego was able to walk for the first time to his local cafe.
Manuel Melao, owner of the cafe in Alandroal, southeast Portugal, told the Jornal de Noticias: “We thought it was a miracle.”
Borrego is now getting used to living a normal life and only needs two physiotherapy sessions a year.
The 61-year-old insists he harbours no ill-feelings against the Lisbon hospital that made the original diagnosis, acknowledging that myasthenia was almost unknown in the medical profession in the 1960s.
He told the paper: ”I just want to make use of my life.”
Pic: Rex/file pic
